Leicester Top The Table Layout (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 24th May 2014 by perfectly4med

No apologies here if I have any of the facts wrong. I’m really not a football fan, let alone a No.1 Fan, but when working with Good Ol’ Sport papers from Graphic 45 for Jones Crafts, I had to come up with another idea. And what better sporting achievement to immortalise in scrapbook form?

I swiped thinned gesso over the background and splattered some more, drying before I edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I used my Silhouette Cameo and Connect plugin for Illustrator to convert the crest into a cut file and cut it from the papers. Unfortunately, my transfer paper was a tad too sticky and removed the printed layer in places. I think it lends an athletic sports fashion distress finish, so coloured the torn bits with a mix of Faded Jeans / Stormy Sky / Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. The fox head is coloured with Scattered Straw / Mustard Seed Distress Inks. Add the rest of the elements from the coordinating chipboard die cuts, die cuts and stickers, and embellish with soluble black pencil for shadows.

Oh the challenges of working on a design team with themes that really don’t come naturally!

Mixed Bouquet in a Vase (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 21st May 2014 by perfectly4med

Here’s another floral number using this month’s featured Singles stamps from Creative Expressions. I’ve coloured these with the distress reinker watercolour technique onto watercolour paper, and embellished with a bit of decoupage to add depth and a Watts-dots circular border 🙂

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Passiflora Card (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 23rd April 2014 by perfectly4med

It’s my last play (for now…) for this month’s featured stamps from Creative Expressions. I’ve combined the foliage components with embossed centres from one of the Henna collection to make a very passable impression of a passion flower for this summery card.

For a printable worksheet tutorial, click here.

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Tailormade Card (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 16th April 2014 by perfectly4med

Another part of this month’s DT goodie pack was the That Special Touch ‘Rulers’ mask. I wanted to use it with the sparkle texture paste and came up with this card design, revisiting the fabulous Creative Expressions Antique Dressforms stamp set.

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Even more samples on TV…

Posted on 3rd April 2014 by perfectly4med

Being on a design team is all about working to deadlines. Julie Hickey does such a stunning job when presenting on Ideal World/Create & Craft TV, you really don’t get even the slightest hint of the frenetic activity behind the scenes. Now I have no idea what was happening at Craftwork Cards HQ, but I do know that the samples that I had to make up didn’t arrive as planned and had to be emailed to me at about 10:30 and I had these three samples into the post by 4:15pm for special delivery the next day for the show that evening. How’s that for pressured deadlines – and I wasn’t the only one… being on a DT isn’t all fun 😉

All three projects feature the brand new Country Garden papers. The first is a small pop-up box card with punched roses. The second is an adapted large pop-up box, with freehand cut vase filled with roses. I cut one of the sheets to resemble a table cloth, cutting the corners off the flaps and adding two pop-up triangles to create the ‘table’ surface as the card opens up. The vase and flowers are mounted on springs:
This way, the card still fits in the envelope, but depth still appears as the card opens. The card is braced by a tabbed insert that keeps it open and the table top taut. The final one is a self-closing collapsable box which I have created and decorated up. All of the papers are edged with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink for a bit of definition.

The samples all featured on the Craftwork Cards Pick of The Day shows on Tues 1st – Wed 2nd April, although if you blinked you’ll have missed them as the paper packs and card packs sold out and the samples weren’t featured in later shows. Good for CWCs, but not so much for me 😉

Topiary Trees with Candi

Posted on 3rd April 2014 by perfectly4med

I’m a bit behind on my posts this week… This is a pair of topiary trees that I made especially for the Craftwork Cards Candi Week, and they’re a giveaway prize over at their blog (still chance to enter if you’re really quick!). To see more on how I made them, go to this post. The planters are made from sheet greyboard, covered with titan buff acrylic and weathered with dry brushed Vintage Photo Distress Paint and Distress Ink. The balls are 8mm beads skewered onto cocktail sticks. The trunks of the trees are wound paper, and I rumpled tissue paper round it to add a bark effect.

Good Ol’ Sport Journal (for Jones Crafts)

Posted on 28th March 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve just received my DT goodies from Jones Crafts, and this time, I have the Graphic 45 Good Ol’ Sport Collection of papers to play with. Just as well it’s vintage and paper, as those that know me well know that I don’t do sport!

In what is fast becoming a trademark makeover, I’ve taken the sheet of 4×6″ prints, cut them up, added some more pages using the other papers and wire bound them using my Zutter Bind-it-All. The front and back covers have faux rusted enamel finish using clear embossing powder and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Distress Powder. Everything else is aged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I created the photo corners by making a cut file and cutting them out on the Silhouette Cameo, before colouring with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain, sticking them together and then inserting the collector’s cards from two other sheets from the collection. Add in some of the chipboard tags and die cuts for tags, and paper ribbons and it’s done. Here’s a clickable gallery for close ups:

Upcycled Mini-Egg Tube Storage Solution

Posted on 27th March 2014 by perfectly4med

The master of crafty invention, Tim Holtz (along with his friends at Ranger Ink), has come up with a brand new mini-applicator tool for the ever popular Distress Inks – if you’ve not come across it yet, it’s circular and smaller than his previous rectangular ones. I’m still waiting on my order for the tool, but I had a delivery of the replacement foams…

I came up with a storage dispenser for the foams, but the design was a little flimsy and I wasn’t entirely happy with it. As I was munching through some Cadbury’s mini-eggs (don’t you just love this time of year?) I was pondering the design… and then realised as I was about to chuck the tube away that it might be the solution. A quick check showed it was just the right diameter to take the foams, and a new design was born. Before… and after:

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Watercolour Card using Reinkers (for Creative Expressions)

Posted on 26th March 2014 by perfectly4med

This is the last of my posts using this month’s featured stamps. I’m back to the Creative Expressions Singles ‘Scentiments’ and taken the image from the thank you stamp to paint with Distress Reinkers. Quite a quick make in a clean and simple style.

Just before the shopping list, don’t forget the BSSBS on 12th-13th April at Ally Pally, early; bird discount of £1 off for tickets booked before 8th April. See you there! Click for details:

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Botanica goes three dimensional

Posted on 25th March 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve created these two pieces for Craftwork Cards using their fabulous Botanica kit which includes papers, die cut toppers and bows as well as the Candi – read more over at their blog!